The God series books were based on a group of meetings that
brought together over 100 scholars from around the world to pursue various
aspects of a contemporary discussion of God. The participants were drawn
from all parts of the our world and from virtually every religious tradition.
Here Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Confucianists, members
of African religions, and many others meet each other face to face. Moreover,
the participants come from a wide range of disciplines and from cultures
East and West, North and South.

Easy generalizations about people in other traditionsor in other strands
of ones own traditionare quickly seen to be inadequate to the living
reality. And as a result participants set in motion in their own lives
dynamics and processes that will bear fruit in unpredictable ways. The
vast majority of participants found this to be an event of great significance
for them.

There was no attempt made to impose a certain outcome on these deliberations,
nor was it assumed that there was some easy unity that underlied all the
multiplicity present to the discussions. Nevertheless, what emerged was
a heightened awareness of the beliefs and views of others and ones own,
and a determination to pursue lines of development.

The volumes in the God: The Contemporary Discussion Series are
indicative of the continued pursuit and represent stepping stones designed
to broaden the forum of the discussions. Many of the essays presented also
reflect the influence of the encounter on each individual contributor.
A unique experience herein awaits the student of religion or philosophy,
the seeker of knowledge of the Ultimate, the teacher of spiritual discipline,
or anyone interested in the emerging confluence of the religious traditions
of the world.

God and Temporality

Since the middle of the nineteenth century Western philosophers and
theologians have become accustomed to talking of the transcendence and
immanence of God. The term ‘transcendence is used to point to the otherness
of God to the world, to Gods absolute priority to created entities. This
way of talking about God is aligned with many of the attributes assigned
to God in classical theism where God is understood, for example, to be
timeless, immutable, and impassible. In some sense, however, God has also
been held to be immanent, to be active in creation, to be concerned with
the creatures of the world. Much of the emphasis in discussions of the
concept of God during the first half of the twentieth century focused on
the otherness of God and the infinite qualitative difference between God
and the world. This approach often tended to lead in the direction of an
asymmetrical relation between God and the world. In recent discussion,
a more organic understanding of the relation between God and his creatures
seems to be at the forefront of discussions concerning the concept of God.
This latter is the concern of this group of essays.